State Briefs 12/31/08

WILLIAMSON COUNTY -- County Coroner Mike “Junior” Burke said Tuesday that his office is investigating the death of a Williamson County Jail inmate last week.

Phillip Okoru, 23, died on Dec. 23. He was rushed to Heartland Regional Medical Center that morning and pronounced dead at 9:14 a.m.

Burke said an autopsy was performed Dec. 24 by a Farmington, Mo., forensic pathologist. The coroner had no information on why Okoru was being held at the jail. The Williamson County Sheriff’s Department referred calls about the death to Burke.

The investigation continues by the Illinois State Police and Burke’s office.

Marion Daily Republican

Suspect charged in 1981 shooting

ADDISON -- A man who authorities said fled to Mexico after a 1981 shooting in Addison was formally charged Tuesday with the murder.

Jesus Villareal, 50, who also uses the name Jesus Rodriguez, was indicted on first-degree murder charges in connection with the Aug. 26, 1981, shooting of John Spoors.

Villareal recently was extradited to the U.S. from his home state of Zacatecas. Mexican Federal Police arrested him Jan. 8 on a warrant from the Addison Police Department.

He is scheduled to appear Jan. 12 in DuPage County Circuit Court.

Suburban Life Publications

No prison time in obstruction case

VILLA PARK -- An Elk Grove Village man convicted of lying to police investigating the March 2007 murder of Rebecca Klein will not serve any time in state prison, but a DuPage County judge sentenced him Tuesday to 75 days in the county jail’s work release program.

Robert Edwards, 42, also was sentenced to probation for a term of 30 months. A jury convicted Edwards of obstruction of justice after a three-day trial in November.

“There is no more important task (the police) could actually do than investigate a murder,” assistant state’s attorney Joe Ruggiero said at the sentencing. “(Edwards) knowingly, intentionally and selfishly obstructed them in that task.”

Klein was suffocated with a plastic garbage bag March 15, 2007, and stuffed in the trunk of her 1966 Ford Mustang, which was left in the garage of the Villa Park home she shared with her girlfriend, authorities said. Her body was found there two days later.

The girlfriend, 28-year-old Nicole Abusharif, is charged with the murder and attempting to conceal it. She is scheduled to stand trial in January.

Edwards worked with Abusharif at a Des Plaines company that sets up video security systems.

After initially telling police they were only friends from work, Edwards later admitted he and Abusharif used drugs together and discussed having a three-way sexual encounter. He also lied to police about the last time he talked to her before the murder and about where he was on the night it occurred, prosecutors said.

During the investigation, police found more than 100 pornographic images of children on Edwards’s computer. He still faces child pornography charges in Cook County Circuit Court.

Suburban Life Publications

7 arrested, 5 wanted on heroin charges

ROCKFORD -- Every Sunday for the past several months, hundreds of people would flock to a back parking lot of a Rockford housing project to get a free $10 hit of heroin, a token of appreciation from their supplier, law-enforcement officials said today.

Details of the weekly heroin giveaways emerged as officials announced the arrests of seven of the 12 people who police say are members of a large-scale heroin-distribution business.

The arrests are the result of a joint investigation into the ring, allegedly headed by Sammy R. Gordon, 45, of Rockford, officials said.

Gordon and several others were arrested Tuesday morning at several locations throughout Rockford.

Those involved in the investigation include the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department; the Rockford Police Department; the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The ring was exposed through undercover purchases, surveillance and other investigation methods to infiltrate the ring, officials said at a news conference today.